My Confusing Peacock

Question
Hi Ron,

I have a 70Litre (18.5Gallon) with a small angelfish, small sucking catfish, medium johanni, medium salmontail catfish, a female peacock and a male peacock.  I originaly had the female peacock in there for a week.  I later put in the salmon cat and the sucking cat and it was fine.  When I put in the angelfish, the peacock started to bully it.  I read that "If you have cichlids, you should have either only one or more than three".  So I put a male peacock in.  The female peacock was now bullying the angelfish and the male peacock.  So I bought the johanni to give her a bit of a hard time (The Johanni is bigger than her).  She has been chasing the johanni endlessly around the tank and now it is hiding behind the filter.  I woke up this morning and saw that she had been attacking the salmontail cat (Its top fin was half gone!) and she had been making ditches in the gravel.  I decided to stop anything further from happening and put a mesh divider in the tank (the tank is split 1/3:2/3) and put the peacock in the 1/3 part of the tank.  She was ramming the divider endlessly so I put the male pecock with her.  She and the male have been getting on fine and she has been making more ditches.  Do you think she is getting ready to mate?  Is she just agressive?  What should I do to stop any of the other fish getting attacked?
P.S I can't find any sites or books that say how you should pick up eggs (if the parents can't be moved).  How do you move them?

cheers,
James

Answer
Hi James,
  That is quite a few fish for an 18 gallon tank.  I suspect that the peacocks are thinking about spawning and that is why you have so much chasing.  I also suspect that what you are called the female peacock is actually the male.  

  Peacocks are female mouthbrooders, meaning that the female picks up the eggs in her mouth and broods them there.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>